This is from the archives of the People's Daily in Beijing...
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Wang Zhizhi Expelled from National Basketball Team

The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) announced its decision during afternoon to expel its former member Wang Zhizhi out of the national men's basketball team.

According to agreements between CBA and Dallas Mavericks, Wang should serve the need of national team by returning to China and preparing for international matches after finishing NBA games in America in last May.

But Wang, after receiving CBA's notice demanding him to return home and join in training for the World Championships and the Asian Games, stayed in America under the excuse of personal need and training for NBA summer leagues, and further cut off contacts with CBA. After the leagues finished Wang refused to meet people from CBA and made clear his hope to say in NBA instead of returning to China, CBA's announcement said.

During a period as long as five months, China's team made many efforts in a hope to change Wang's mind, and publicly promised that Wang could continue its NBA training after the World Championships and the Asian Games as well as made corresponding preparations for him.

But Wang, regardless of professional codes, disciplines and national interests, stuck to his personal interests and chose not to return home and represent China in international games, CBA said.

Entered the &quot;Bayi team&quot; at the age of 14 and the national team at 18, Wang can not achieve so much today without training in his own country. It is every athlete's honor and responsibility to represent his country in international games, but Wang made the wrong decision when he was needed.

Since Wang has lost his professional and patriotic sprit, CBA decided to deprive him of the membership of national basketball team, the announcement concluded.

By PD Online Staff Li Heng

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Expelled

MavKikiNYC

11-07-2002, 05:44 PM

Gosh, some of those bold passages sound like they could've been written by the propaganda arm of a Communist regime.

David

11-07-2002, 06:19 PM

I guess I need to bookmark the People's Daily Website, so I'll have someone to tell me how to think.

Drbio

11-07-2002, 07:59 PM

<< I guess I need to bookmark the People's Daily Website, so I'll have someone to tell me how to think. >>

You mean some of the guys here don't do that enough?

David

11-07-2002, 08:47 PM

If it's good enough for a billion chinese...

Evilmav2

11-07-2002, 09:05 PM

If it's good enough for a billion chinese...

Many of whom probably idolized the young basketball star before he betrayed his country and his fans...

Chiwas

11-07-2002, 09:09 PM

<< Wang Expelled from National Basketball Team >>

Besides the Propaganda, bad by itself, Wang is paying the second worst punishment that a person could get in his situation. Not to be able to play with his native land team, having the capacity, is a tough penalty.

I hope they never utilize the first one, banning him from his country and family. If they do, it'll becomes a harm to his human rights, a very, very different situation than just a basketball game subject.

MavKikiNYC

11-07-2002, 09:54 PM

<< If it's good enough for a billion chinese...

Many of whom probably idolized the young basketball star before he betrayed his country and his fans... >>

Betrayed his country? Can't be serious.

Any awareness at all of how the old Eastern European Communist governments disproportionately funded and emphasized national athletic programs/teams so that their athletes could compete internationally, win, and in so doing glorify the political system which (literally) bred them? Often these athletes competed with the 'benefit' of illegal performance-enhancing (and health destroying) drugs, sometimes without the atheletes' knowledge.

&lt;&lt;....It is every athlete's honor and responsibility to represent his country in international games, but Wang made the wrong decision when he was needed.

Since Wang has lost his professional and patriotic sprit, CBA decided to deprive him of the membership of national basketball team, the announcement concluded.&gt;&gt;

Ever hear about the 27 Chinese athletes who were sent home from the Sydney Olympics for failing drug tests?

Ever hear of Ma Junren, the Chinese women's running coach whose group of runners known as Ma's Army produced world-record performances in the 1990s, but did so under the taint of blood-doping scandals? 6 of his 7 runners failed drug tests and were sent home from Sydney.

Where's the glory in a system that breeds this kind of systematic abuses?

Tough to understand how someone can type throwaway lines like &quot;Wang betrayed his country&quot;, without taking into account the corruption of the system from which he came, and from which he apparently sought to escape.

MavsRich

11-08-2002, 03:17 AM

Great post MavKiki

Evilmav2

11-08-2002, 03:55 AM

Here is what the archives of the People's Daily had to say about trying to contact Wang this Summer...

The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) broke silence on Wang Zhizhi's status with the national team and asked the center to join his teammates as soon as possible.

The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) broke silence on Wang Zhizhi's status with the national team and asked the center to join his teammates as soon as possible.

&quot;We expected Wang Zhizhi to contact the CBA as soon as possible and make the right choice,&quot; a senior CBA official said in an interview with the China Sports Daily published on Wednesday. The report did not give the name of the official but named him as an &quot;chief official from the CBA&quot;.

The China Sports Daily also published a letter sent from the CBA to Wang Zhizhi in late July, in which the CBA promised not to punish Wang for his delay on national duties.

&quot;If only you return from abroad to train and play with the national team, the CBA and the Bayi Rockets will not make any punishment to you,&quot; the letter reads.

&quot;You can still sign with any NBA team and play in the NBA in the future,&quot;

&quot;We have already put you on the national squad lists for the world championship and the Asian Games, please give up your unnecessary worries.&quot;

Wang Zhizhi was not included in the recent published 12-member squad for the upcoming world championship in the United States but was listed as one of the two substitutes.

Wang, the NBA's first Chinese player, played his first full season in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks last season and threw himself into the center of rumors by staying in the United States after the season to train alone.

The official admitted that Wang should return to China at the end of the season, according to an agreement between the CBA and the Mavericks, but played down the assumptions that the national team would say &quot;no&quot; to Wang following the delays.

&quot;According to the agreement between the CBA and the Dallas Mavericks, Wang should submit to national duties,&quot; he said. &quot;After the Mavericks finished their season play in late April, the CBA informed Wang via the Mavericks that he should join the national team in late May,&quot;

&quot;However, he did not come back on time. Before we had the second letter sent to the Mavericks, he had left the club,&quot;

&quot;In the last three months, we have been waiting anxiously for Wang Zhizhi to join the national team. We sent him messages times and again, informing his national duties and asking him to come back, but he kept staying in the United States and never gave direct responses,&quot;

&quot;When the CBA announced the national squad for the world championship, we still could not make sure whether Wang would comeback or not, which forced us to list him as an substitute. But westill asked the Adidas company to prepare Wang's uniforms and hoped he could play the world championship.&quot;

According to the CBA, Wang did ask them for permission to train alone in the United States and play in the NBA summer league. CBA responded by asking him to return from abroad first and discuss the other issues later. Wang did not give positive answer and theCBA could only have indirect communications with him through somebody in-between since then.

The CBA reinforced that Wang Zhizhi's NBA future would not be affected by the issue and was looking forward to seeing him change his mind.

&quot;We support Wang to play in the NBA, but he should return to China to train and play with the national team first,&quot; the CBA said in a letter to the NBA commissioner David Stern on Wang's national duties. &quot;Any worries that the CBA would no longer allow him to play in the NBA are unnecessary.&quot;

By PD Online Staff Li Heng

David

11-08-2002, 06:46 AM

I don't think you're going to sway any thinking, IN AMERICA, with quotes from the People's Daily(that's a Communist newspaper, in case you didn't know). Personally, I don't go along with that ideology.